In a career that has spanned 53 starts, Stephen Strasburg has pitched in 15 different big-league cities, though never in his hometown of San Diego. Tonight, the hometown hero finally gets to cross that milestone off his bucket list, taking the mound at Petco Park for the Nationals' series opener against the Padres. Of far greater concern to Strasburg and the Nats than the location of this outing: How well he pitches tonight after his fifth inning meltdown against the Cubs on Saturday.

The Nationals' struggling lineup could get a jolt with Bryce Harper back after missing the last two games following his collision with the fence in L.A. (He did come off the bench last night to pinch-hit late.) The Nats could certainly use their best hitter again, though of course only if he's healthy enough to perform at his peak level.

Speaking of health, Wilson Ramos has officially been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a recurrence of his hamstring strain. That means Kurt Suzuki will once again become the everyday catcher, with Jhonatan Solano returning from Class AAA Syracuse to serve as his backup.

I'm not on the West Coast, but I will be talking Nats tonight on the latest edition of "The Baseball Show" on CSN. Note the delayed 11:30 p.m. EDT start time, which should fall somewhere around the fifth or sixth inning of the Nats game…

Mitch Williams just took Stras to task for showing up his infield- or of making it look that way. Eric Byrnes loves Harper and feels that he will learn to be more moderate about walls. I have been a Nats fan since day one and I spent a lot of time fussing about the media ignoring us. Not anymore. The target is firmly affixed. My problem with the daily line up fixes is this — you need to use the same one for a period of time anywhere from a series to a week or two weeks. Same thing with fielding positions. How can anyone get in a rhythm with the shuffling around? Baseball, other work situations — people work better when they can get comfortable for a period of time- constant changing throws people off.

He made a good point. You don't see the fielders huffing and puffing when a pitch ends up in the seats. They support Stras. Heck, even his last start, the defense threw out a baserunner to prevent a triple. Strasburg really needs to mature.Having said that, I have no doubt he will. I know some here have practically been ready to ship him off. I'm not even close to that point. He'll get it together. He's too good not to.

I hope Harper's really well enough to play; it really seems that, as badly as he's banged up, he needs a few more rest days no matter how he feels about it.The organization is medically conservative with their pitchers, but when it comes to position players I think they aren't generally speaking. But I hope I'm wrong and he's able to play successfully.

Moore was in tune when he came up last year b/c he was playing everyday in Syracuse, banging home runs and just being in a rhythm. Send him down to tune up again. Let Tracy back up ALR for the next month and a half or so. Then bring TyMo back in August or September. I like TyMo a lot more than Tracy, but seems unfair to kill his game by making him ride the bench right now. Bring up Rendon to play 2B now. Let him adapt to the ML life and pitching and by August he'll be in tune as well. If Rizzo and Davey make such moves now, we'll be where we want with our young and hungry lineup for the homestretch. Don't know if I'd have Espy opt for surgery now, b/c who would cover SS if Desi goes down for a couple weeks? Maybe still need Danny's glove. Keep Lombo as utility everything.

What's the word on Det's back? I think Stras will have a good outing tonight. Unlike some, I have faith that Stras is, in fact, a mentally tough guy. He certainly wasn't last outing and he's gotten rattled in the past, but over the long haul I think he will prove to be. He's smart. And he's stubborn–the kind of stubborn that learns. Write it down, write it down.

Listen, I have no desire to sit Stras, trade him, or any such thing. I just want him to clean up his act. The Nats protected him a lot from the press when he was new– not Harper. Even last year, the organization took all the heat and he never really took a party line– they have my best interests at heart, I will deal with it- no. He just sighed a lot and have that LOOK. He needs to get a grip and realize that he is part of a team and that kids wear his shirt and watch how he acts. Fake it if you have to. I certainly have had to do that and I am sure that you all have had to do it too. I want him on our team but I want him to man up!!

Realdealnats– I hope you are correct!!!! And I really hope Det will be fine. If not I would go Stammen. He is pretty stretched out and would probably get better results than anyone in Syracuse. Duke can be long man. ( don't throw things at me for suggesting that!)

I get and F for having fat fingers small andoid screen and a font that is half the size in the reply box then the finish products, but eyes that cornea problems and cant focus on any of this.That is why i think espi needs vision checked.At this point docs telling me within 10 years I will have to have a 73 inch screen to see games as I am going blind slowly but surely.Another reason I like winning every game as eventually I will see no wins or type ant messages

On pace to win 84 games. Not sure that's going to do itLet's see if they can get Zim, Harper, and Desmond hitting together and perhaps LaRoche. And somehow convince the table-setters to like THE WALK! God damn it not one of them like to walk! Except for Werth when he is in the #1/#2 slots.

Every team in the NL East has lost more of the last 5 games than they've won. Which is kind of amazing. Maybe we're the new AL Central!Marlins: 3-9 in MayMets: 4-8 in MayBraves: 5-9 in MayPhillies: 7-7 in MayNats: 8-5 in MayTeam scoring on the season by division: MLB team scoring by division: AL East 916, AL Central 871, AL West 864, NL Central 857, NL West 830, NL East 726. !

Ross, nooo.If they're not planning to use the DL, Stammen can't be used for the next four games. Which means the starters really need to be on their games, and there's a higher chance of more innings for Duke and Henry. That's gonna be rough.

color announcer , Steve Blass, says it best. The reason people strike out a lot is simple. they swing at a lot of balls, and lett strikes go. All poorly coached or have a coach who they do not listen too and the manager doesn't care.

Via twitter- Jayson felt something in his hammy, saw the doc, doing Potomac Friday, San Diego Saturday. Back on the DL in a week ??? Wish these guys would heal completely!!! They end up missing more time this way. More bubble wrap!!!

Comack reporting about Jayson. And no, one week is not his plan, it's my fear! Ok- who is Manziel and why is it a big deal to have him around the players and have his picture taken with Davey. Can he hit?

haha. Johnny Manziel (also known as Johnny Football) is a college football player. He won the Heisman Trophy as a freshman–the first peron to ever do so. Davey is a Texas A&M alum (where Manziel) goes so that's the connection.

Venters and Hanrahan both just had Tommy John. Would not wish that on anyone. At least our guys have relatively minor stuff. Last year everyone had obliques, this year hammies. Get well, everyone, and let's play ball!!

David Proctor said… Interesting. Apparently, Davey Johnson had a long one-on-one chat with Danny Espinosa today. May 16, 2013 10:05 PM ____________________________Probably discussing good restaurants in the San Diego area.

Let's be honest, no player on this team has a good approach at the plate unless they brought it with them. That is a complete failure of player development and instruction. A bad teacher/school blames the students. Eck must go.

One thing I've read that Buck Showalter does that I think is a really good idea is to go over the home plate umpire's strikezone before the game and let that guide the hitting approach – wide zone, go patient. Small zone, go up hacking. That's something I'd like to see the Nats try.

"If the ump calls it a strike. Ut is not a ball as we know.stras just wants the same call."He can only go by what the ump had called up till that point. That had been a ball all night.Umps ain't infallible.

gonat — agree in principle re Bryce. Just like after the Atlanta wall hit, he hasn't gotten anything out of the infield and is clearly in some pain or at least strain in trying to hit. But in practice, good luck getting him out of the game once you've written him into the lineup unless he can't move.

OK, now we can say it. We all knew Ryan Z was going to make some sort of an error with Strasburg pitching.To get out of that with only 1 unearned is huge. Seriously, Lombo saved at least 1 run there and probably 2.

I'm happy to see the 3,4,5 scoring when the 3-hole is still slumping … I will be very happy if I turn out to be wrong about the guy in the 5-hole. I like two home runs on 2 consecutive nights with some BB's thrown in. Now, if we can just get the table-setters to learn to walk more?

David Proctor said… Lombardozzi fields well, but his throws have been a little scary. Just making that observation, not trying to extrapolate that to the Espi vs Lombo debate._______________________________One throw he took his time on? Tough crowd. He's been great on the defense tonight. His hitting has been better than Espi not like that's hard to do.

I would have said the same, Eric, but apparently there's no one up in the Nats' pen, Stras got no handshakes and has his jacket on… looks like he's at least starting the 8th. Interesting.Also FP just said Harper's dinger went 434 feet.

Eric, I catch a lot of crap on here for being negative and I watch you guys making up stuff on Lombardozzi. One a ball skips on the dirt or Laroche has to do a ballet move off the bag then let me know.It was Lombo who went slam dunk high on the rim to catch and save Zimms throw.

"That 2nd pitch has been a strike sometimes tonight."Ha! Post of the thread. I'm with us all the way.Harpo if you really take me this seriously I don't know what to tell ya. It was a backhanded jab at Zim and a razz at Lombo for making me sweat.Lemme know if you need that BP cuff.

Strasburg really redeemed himself. Collectively everyone said he was wrong and Stephen actually changed.It's kind of crazy that RZ makes an error in another Stras start and it immediately tested Stras to see how he would react and he reacted as a good teammate. Great to see although unforced errors are getting old.

Agreed that the unforced errors are getting old, but I really wanted to see Stras not just win, but to battle through imposed adversity along the way. He did that AND went deeper than ever before. Very encouraging!

I know it's not possible given his history, but it would be really nice if Stras just became a member of the rotation, without all the fanfare and scrutiny. He's gone eight innings. He pitched to contact, he walked some, gave up some doubles, etc. For any other pitcher that would be a B+ game. Yeah, he pitched through some minor adversity, but if Zim didn't have such great range that would have been a hit anyway. Good win. Let's get this baby pitcher tomorrow.

I'm a tough grader. JZ has given some great performances, Kershaw has, so has Wainwright–talking about this year, even Gio, being in total control. Stras, very good, all that you could want, but not riveting. It will happen.

NatsLady said…I know it's not possible given his history, but it would be really nice if Stras just became a member of the rotation, without all the fanfare and scrutiny. He's gone eight innings. He pitched to contact, he walked some, gave up some doubles, etc. For any other pitcher that would be a B+ game. Yeah, he pitched through some minor adversity, but if Zim didn't have such great range that would have been a hit anyway. Good win. Let's get this baby pitcher tomorrow.May 17, 2013 12:57 AMR——————————-Most intelligent post of the day.

I agree it would be great if he could just settle in as one of the starters. I think both going into the late innings and immediately quashing questions about his demeanor in the face of a bind will help.

Wow– a lot of you stayed up half the night. This stuff is a great way to wake up on a Friday. So happy Stras figured things out and the offense scored some runs. Unhappy about the injury news all around, though. DVR over diner today for some nice highlights.